Parashat “Vayetzi” shares Yaakov’s journey as he leaves his home in Eretz Yisroel to l

ive with his uncle Lavan in Charan and finally returns back to the land. While Y
aakov was away in Charan he got married and established his family, 11 out of th
e 12 Shvatim, all of whom followed in Yaakov’s path and remained loyal to G-d. Iro
nically though, Avraham and Yitzchok, both of whom raised their children in Eret
z Yisrael, had rebellious children while Yaakov, raised the next generation of t
zaddikim who would establish the nation of Klal Yisroel in Galut. How was Yaakov
able to accomplish this outside the land?
While Yaakov was a tzadik, he also had the spiritual advantage of being a baal t
eshuva – one who struggles with evil and overcomes it. When Yaakov left the spirit
ually uplifting atmosphere of Eretz Yisroel and the house of Yitzchak and was fo
rced into the world of Lavan, this element of his personality began to express i
tself. Yaakov was forced to live in a corrupt environment surrounded by corrupt
people while at the same time trying to build a family and deal morally in busin
ess. This brought out Yaakov’s innate abilities as a spiritual fighter.
Avraham and Yitzchak, rather than overcoming these negative traces, got rid of t
hem completely, and thus Yishmael and Esav were removed as their fathers heirs.
Yaakov had the ability to fight and overcome evil while he spent his time in Cha
ran; Overcoming the forces of evil on the outside, he learned how to fight off a
ny potential evils on the inside that could corrupt his family.
Thus, it was exactly in this unholy environment that Yaakov built a perfect comp
lement of loyal sons, because fighting the evil around him taught him how to ove
rcome and not just expel the potential evil within.
Chani Spirn
(Sichos Shabbos, Gutnick Chumash)